Yep, it was that time of year again. On December 31st, an hour or so before the stroke of midnight, several members of the Michigan Underwater Divers (MUD) Club and friends (observing social distancing practices) began their pre-dive rituals in preparation for celebrating the changing of the year in their usual way, by entering the dark, ice-cold waters of one of Michigan’s numerous bodies of water.
This year’s dive was again in the Saint Joseph river off Riverview Park in Niles, Michigan. With only a little snow, ice on the walkways and along the shore, no wind and with the air temp of ~19F, it was almost balmy.
Collectively though the divers had a bit of a challenging dive tonight with the river much lower than last year and having to walk out to deeper water w/o fins. Current was slow but again the visibility was like diving in pea soup.
Shore support was provided by Jake Thar (Niles) and Karen Mann (Bangor) who braved the night travels across the snow and Icey roads to perform as diver surface support for all the participants.
There were 5 divers in the water to begin the dive and most importantly, 5 out. Those diving were: Mary Beth Thar (Niles), Sir Larry Steelman (Niles), Kevin Ailes (Bangor), Amy Ailes (Bangor), Don McAlhany (St. Joseph), It was fun as usual, so maybe come out and join us next year!
The first Day dive of the New Year, January 1st, was completed by Muddy Bob Sweeney at Gilboa Quarry
